Machine for grinding meat and the like



Nov. 19, 1929. A. c. VAN H OOYDONK MACHINE FOR GRINDING MEAT AND THELIKE Filed Aug. 9, 1927 v In lb.

IIIIIIIIIIIIO'IIIIIIII, 7") v I a Patented Nov. 19, 1929 UNITED STATESADRIAN C. VAN HOOYDONK, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN E. SMITHPATENT OFFICE SONS 00., F BUFFALO, NEW YORK, .A CORPORATION OF NEW YORKMACHINE FOR GRINDING MEAT AN D THE LIKE Application filed August 9,1927. Serial No. 211,717.

material through the openings of said plate.

As usually constructed, the feed hopper of the machine is locatedcentrally over the easlng and delivers the material upon the ascendingas Well as the descending side of the feed screw, with the result thatthe ascending side of the screw-blade tends to force up some of thematerial back into the hopper. Attendants are therefore in the habit ofpressing the meat or other material down out of the hopper by hand atthe risk of becoming injured.

One of the objects of my invention is to improve the construction ofsuch grinders with a view of preventing such return movement of thematerial by the screw, while r taining the usual function of the latterto force the material through the perforated plate, thus discouragingthe dangerous practice of thrusting the hands into the hopper.

In such machines it is customary to use interchangeable plates with lare and smallsized perforations, a plate with large holes being first usedto coarsely grind or reduce the material and the material being thenagain run through the machine after substituting the plate or plateswith smaller holes to grind the material to the desired degree offineness.

A further object of this invention is to do away with such coarselyperforated plate or plates and provide the machine with simple cuttingmeans cooperating with the feed screw by which the lumps or largerpieces of material are reduced preliminary to the final reduction by theaction of the perforated plate and the usual rotary knife or cuttercooperating with it.

Another object is to provide the feed hopper with simple and reliablemeans for warning the attendant when it is empty or nearly so, to guardagainst injuring his hands in the event of his putting them into thehopper for any purpose.

- Other objects and improvements will appear in the followingdescription.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of a powerdriven grinding machine embodying the invention. Figure 2 is a view ofthe delivery end of the machine. Figure 3 is a fragmentary top plan viewthereof. Figure 4 is an enlarged cross section on line 4.4, Figure 1.Figure 5 is an enlarged longitudinal section on line 55, Figure 2.Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmentary cross section of the screw and itscasing.

imilar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughoutthe several views. 1

10 indicates the stationary frame or standard of the machine; 11 thescrew casing mounted on the rear end of the frame; 12 the usual screw;13 the perforated plate at the rear end of the casing and 14; theknife-blades secured to the screw-shaft 15 at the rear side of theplate.

In the construction shown by way of example, this shaft is journaled inthe per? forated plate and the frame 10, and it may be driven from anelectric or other motor 16 by sprocket gearing 17, 18, or other suitabletransmission elements.

The feed hopper 19 surmounts the front portion of the screw casing, butinstead of being arranged centrally over the front end of the screw asusual, is offset laterally as shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4: to bring thedischarge throat 20 of the hopper over the descending side of the feedscrew and practically isolate the throat from the ascending side of thescrew. The result is that the part of the screw under the hopper-throattends to draw the meat or other material down out of the hopper into thescrew-zone, rather than to feed some of it upward and return it into thehopper and tempting the attendant to push the material down into thehopper and risking injury to his hands.

Otherwise expressed, the far wall 19 of the feed hopper (relative to thenear side of the machine as it appears in Figure 1) has its lower endarranged over and substantially in alinement with the axis of the screw,practically shutting off the far or ascending half of the screw-bladefrom the hopper throat and exposing only the descending half of thescrew to the same or nearly so, as best illustrated in Figure 4.

Arranged at one side of the casing 10, preferably opposite the front orreceiving end of the screw, is a cutter or cutting mechanism 21 enclosedby a housing 22 and adapted to sever and reduce the lumps or largerpieces of meat or other material before being forced through theopenings of the perforated plate 13. In the preferred embodiment of themechanism shown in the drawing, it consists of a series of rotary disksmounted on a shaft 23 and having beveled and sharpened teeth 24 passingthrough a comb or slotted plate 25 forming the inner wall of the housing22. These cutter-disks are driven in the opposite direction to the feedscrew, as indicated by the arrows in Figure 4, so that the opposingsides of the screw and disks travel downward and the disks as well asthe screw tend to draw the material out of the feed-hopper down into thescrew-casing. The cutter-shaft 23 may be supported on the frame and thescrew-casing and driven from the screw-shaft by gears 26, 27 or otherappropriate means, the cutter shaft being rotated preferably at twicethe speed of the screw-shaft, but this ratio may be varied at will. Asuitable clutch 28 may be provided to throw the cutter-shaft in or outof gear with the screw-shaft.

The provision of the preliminary cutter mechanism 21 eliminates theperforated plate with large holes heretofore employed, saving the timerequired to interchange two or more plates and to run the materialthrough the machine several times. It follows that the material ismashed less and a more juicy and wholesome product is obtained.

The comb-plate is preferably separate from the casing 11 and housing 22and is suitably secured thereto, to permit convenient machining of theplate.

To guard against injuring the attendant in case he should be tempted tothrust his hands into the feed-hopper, a warning or telltale device 29may be arranged in the hopper. As best shown in Figure l, thispreferably consists of a plate arranged within the hopper at the sameside as the cutter-disks and hinged at its upper end to the adjacentwall of the hopper, the hinged end of the plate having an overbalancingweight 30 which tends to swing it to its full-line position. \Vhen the Jfeed-hopper is filled more or less, the weight of the material holds thewarning plate against the wall of the hopper out of active position, asindicated by dotted lines, but when the material-level in the hopperfalls below the lower end of the plate, the weight 30 swings the plateto its full-line position, extending it over the cutter-disks where itwill be encountered by the attendants hands and warning him that theyare dangerously close to them.

31 indicates the longitudinal ribs or abutments which project inwardlyfrom the wall of the screw casing 11 and which compel the material tomove toward the perforated plate under the action of the screw. 'Whenthese ribs are formed integral with the cast-iron casing, their sideslack the desired sharpness of abruptness to insure the proper propulsionof the material through the casing. To improve this construction, theribs are made separate from the casing and preferably of harder metalthan it, such as steel bars. These are squarely machined or sharpened,after which they are placed in the core of the mold in which the casingis cast, the inner embedded portions of the bars having a number ofopenings 82 which become filled with the metal of the casing, therebyfirmly anchoring the bars in place without requiring separate fasteningsof any kind, saving time and reducing expense.

I claim as my invention 1. A machine for grinding meat and the like,comprisng a casing, a feed-hopper leading to said casing, a feed screwin the easing, a chamber at one side of the casing, rotary cutters insaid chamber and means for rotating said screw and said cutters totravel donwardly on their opposing sides, the descending sides of thescrew and out ters extending into the discharge throat of thefeed-hopper while their ascending sides are located outside thereof.

2. A machine for grinding meat and the like, comprising a casing,material-reducing means in the casing, a feed-hopper leading into thecasing, a movable warning device arranged in the hopper and adapted tobe held out of operative position by its contents, and means for movingthe warning device to a position over said material-reducing means whenreleased by the descending material in the hopper.

3. A machine for grinding meat and the like, comprising a casing,material-reducing means in the casing, a feed-hopper leading into thecasing, a warning plate pivoted within the hopper to swing against awall thereof or to its operative positon over said material-reducingmeans and a weight for extending said plate to its operative positionwhen released by the hopper-contents.

l. A machine for grinding meat and the like, comprising a casing, afeed-screw therein, a cutting chamber at one side of said casing, acomb-plate arranged between said casing and chamber and separatetherefrom, means for securing said plate in place and rotary cutters insaid chamber passing through said comb-plate.

5. In a machine for grinding meat and tlfe like, a casing, a feed screwin the casing, a feed hopper leading to said casing and having adischarge throat arranged substantially on one side of the screw-axis, achamber arranged on the opposite side of the screwaxis and communicatingwith said casing and the discharge throat of said hopper, and a cuttingmechanism arranged in said cham her in opposing relation to said feedscrew.

6. In a machine for grinding meat and the like, a casing, a feed screwin the casing, a feed hopper leading to said casing and having adischarge throat arranged substantially on one side of the screw-axis, achamber arranged on the opposite side of the screw-axis andcommunicating with said casing and the discharge throat of said hopper,and a rotary cutter disposed in said chamber and having its axisarranged parallel to that of the feed-screw.

7. A machine for grinding meat and the like, comprising a casing, amaterial-reducing means at the delivery end of the casing, a feed screwin the casing, a feed hopper surmounting the casing and having itsdischarge throat leading to the descending side of said screw, and arotary cutter disposed opposite the feed screw adjacent said dischargethroat and having its axis parallel to that of said screw.

ADRIAN C. VAN I-IOOYDONK.

